His work at Atlanta University was only one of the ways by which
he strove to build "the talented tenth." In 1905 DuBois and
several others had founded the Niagara Movement to provide a
common platform from which to speak. They also intended it to
become the framework within which they could exchange their
ideas. In it "the talented tenth" tried to oppose the policies of
conciliation and submission which were being propounded by
Booker T. Washington. However, in 1906 Atlanta was rocked by a
race riot which shook DuBois's faith in reason and scholarship as
a panacea. In the very city in which he lived and where his
influence should have been strongest, white bigotry exploded,
and mobs roamed the streets for days beating Afro-American
citizens and burning their homes. DuBois began to wonder whether
scholarly discovery of the truth was enough.
Following another race riot in Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 and
the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, DuBois left his post at Atlanta to become the
director of publicity and research for the N.
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